Congratulations to The Almshouse Association Award winners
The Awards Panel is delighted to announced the five recipients of this year’s awards for work completed in 2023.
Weston Consolidated Charity, Spalding
Two single-storey, one-bedroomed, bungalows (with a car parking area and the facility to charge a mobility scooter) were built to wheelchair accessibility standards, with the inclusion of integrated solar panels on the roofs of each property.
This will greatly improve energy efficiency and the new tree and shrub planting will promote biodiversity.
Sloswicke’s Almshouses, Retford, Nottinghamshire
In 2017, the Charity purchased a former joiner’s workshop that dominated the road where their existing nine almshouses are situated.
Planning consent was granted to demolish and replace it with five single bedroom almshouses, two of which are bungalows.
They also added a single communal garden with a central seating area as well as a mobility scooter store with appropriate access.
Girton Town Charity, Cambridgeshire
Girton Town Charity trustees made a commitment to increase and future proof its almshouses by creating 15 new homes at Dovehouse Court in the heart of the village. They replace six existing bungalows which had been built in the 1930s and 1960s and no longer provided an appropriate standard of accommodation.
The new almshouses are built to conform fully to certified Passivhaus standards, with excellent sustainability credentials, and are situated around a central courtyard. The contemporary homes were designed for extended independent living for the over 55s, with an internal layout to include a master bedroom and small second room, open plan living, kitchen and dining area, with access to balconies or individual terraces on the ground floor.
The Charterhouse, London
The Awards Panel consider this initiative deserves a special award that has not been granted before. The project consisted of a ten-week programme of drawing masterclasses, guided by an artist/facilitator. These culminated in a co-curated three-month exhibition at The Charterhouse, featuring accompanying text interpretation collaboratively developed by the masterclass participants and professional staff from Charterhouse.
Its specific goals included addressing issues of isolation and exclusion and aimed to strengthen connections between the internal older community and external groups by actively involving local community organisations.
Appleby Blue, United St Saviours, Southwark
Appleby Blue is an innovative social housing development that reimagines the almshouse concept for contemporary, inner-city living. By marrying heritage with modernity, Appleby Blue offers an affordable housing solution embracing a resident support model to elevate their quality of life and foster a sense of belonging.
Central to its ethos is community and the communal centre spaces, exemplified by the sociable kitchen at its core which hosts a myriad of events.
In tandem with its 63 residents across 57 homes, Appleby Blue’s diverse intergenerational community programme encompasses digital skills sessions, dance and exercise classes, and culinary experiences.
Congratulations to all our worthy award winners for your outstanding achievements!
kindly sponsored by

The Almshouse Association Awards recognise the vital role almshouses and almshouse charities play in today’s social structure and future affordable housing. The hard work and inspired innovations of our members not only enrich the lives of almshouse residents, they also support the continued longevity of the almshouse movement.
So many members have incredible sites and have been working hard to make improvements, increase the number of almshouses and improve the standard of almshouses available to local people in housing need.
We encourage you all to share your work with your peers and the wider public by partaking in the award process.
posted 18 July 2024